Educate me on Trailers

[MrBasse]

You really need to know the maximum weight you will pull before you make any decisions. Is a diamond plate steel floor really that important when plywood probably weighs less, does the same job, and is ridiculously cheaper to replace? I've towed small trailers with a few different Rangers and I can say from experience that you shouldn't try to use a compact pickup to tow a full size load. Scariness definitely will happen, and that is multiplied when you have expensive and precious cargo (i.e. robots, tools and probably students too). The Ridgeline has a capacity of 5k lbs. so I would look past that option too if you are going to get a trailer like what you listed. You need a vehicle that can tow the trailer you buy, otherwise you have to buy a trailer that your vehicle can tow.

You have to remember that a lot more goes into towing than just weight. If you pull a shorter trailer with a shorter vehicle and load the trailer up at all, it is going to dance all over the freeway and stress the driver out until it ends badly. If you will ever go near a freeway, or plan to ever drive faster than 40 mph or so, buy a smaller trailer or a bigger truck.

[Retired Starman]

A couple of thoughts.

1. Don't forget to include the weight of everything you will throw in the tow vehicle when you are looking at the weight the tow vehicle can pull. Passengers and all that stuff in the back decreases the amount you call pull. People tend to forget that. Six people and luggage adds up.

2. Get a good tongue lock for times when the trailer is sitting by itself, either at the school or on trips at the hotel or venues. Some of the places we compete aren't the safest for a trailer. You might even want to get a Denver Boot to lock the wheels. Here is a site that has stuff to help. Don't know anything about them, just did a search. http://www.universalboot.com/

For those of you who don't have electric brakes, I suggest getting them. It is an easy after-market installation job. Did it myself on my box trailer. Even a moderate weight trailer will warp front disk brakes on a tow vehicle if you aren't careful. Much better to have the drag of trailer brakes help slow you down. Much safer too.

Dr. Bob

Chairman's Award is not about building the robot. Every team builds a robot.

[cpeister]

To add to Dr. Bob's post regarding locks,

If you are parking the trailer during an event and leaving it hitched to the tow vehicle, remember that locking the tongue to the ball isn't enough. You should also use a locking pin to attach the draw bar to the hitch receiver.

[Triple B]

David,
Sounds like a sweet trailer you are about to order but I would definately consider the extended height version. We have a standard height trailer and our crate has to go in on its side. good luck and see you in St Louis.
mike d

[Chi Meson]

I thought I'd pull up this old thread rather than start a new one. We are about to get a trailer ourselves. I'm looking at a 6 x 8 or 6 x 10 being the largest possibility. We are also considering a 5 x 8 (which has a side door and drop-down rear).

Various points in the previous threads suggest that folks would go bigger if given another choice. We successfully took 2 robots to IRI (from New England) in a dinky 4 x 6 rented Uhaul, so the 5 x 8 would seem "spacious" by comparison.

However, when looking at about 40 lined-up robotics trailers at IRI, the 6x10, to 6x12 size seemed to be the overwhelming favorite.

Smaller size is easier to pull and is less likely to be over weight. It's $1200 less, too .

Larger size is...larger.

What would you do?

[ttldomination]

Originally Posted by Chi Meson

What would you do?

Once you go big, you can't go back.

Seriously though, it's a trade-off between variables, and you need to decide which variables matter to you.

My old team has borrowed a huge trailer, >12' for sure, from a sponsor. We can fit everything back there, and I'm sure if you asked us to use a smaller one, we wouldn't have known what to do.

If you have space, you'll find a way to fill it. If you want space, then I'd say go for it.

- Sunny G.

[ice.berg]

Our team had our trailer donated last year. Even though its nothing huge or extravagant it definitely gets the job done, so we are very grateful for that. Im not positive on the exact dimensions but its around 4X8X5 for the actual cargo area with just a single axle. We had our vinyl donated by the local graphics shop as well to spiff it up a little. One thing about this is make sure to do individual vinyls for each sponsor incase you need to add one or remove one. Inside we added some D ring tie downs and have a good selection on ratchet straps for securing robot and other materials while in transit. I think if you are on a tighter budget something like this would work quite well for you!

[Phyrxes]

Originally Posted by Chi Meson

I thought I'd pull up this old thread rather than start a new one. We are about to get a trailer ourselves. I'm looking at a 6 x 8 or 6 x 10 being the largest possibility. We are also considering a 5 x 8 (which has a side door and drop-down rear).

Various points in the previous threads suggest that folks would go bigger if given another choice. We successfully took 2 robots to IRI (from New England) in a dinky 4 x 6 rented Uhaul, so the 5 x 8 would seem "spacious" by comparison.

However, when looking at about 40 lined-up robotics trailers at IRI, the 6x10, to 6x12 size seemed to be the overwhelming favorite.

Smaller size is easier to pull and is less likely to be over weight. It's $1200 less, too .

Larger size is...larger.

What would you do?

One suggestion I have is as you are debating size, map out all the stuff you intended to tote in it to events and see how much floor level space you need for items like tool boxes, battery cart, bot, etc. Our major requirement was we wanted to be able to put a maximum height bot on a movers dolly and roll it right in so that defined our space requirements.

[Chi Meson]

Originally Posted by Phyrxes

One suggestion I have is as you are debating size, map out all the stuff you intended to tote in it to events and see how much floor level space you need for items like tool boxes, battery cart, bot, etc. Our major requirement was we wanted to be able to put a maximum height bot on a movers dolly and roll it right in so that defined our space requirements.

We did do this, and the 5x8 meets our minimal size requirements. By all of our analysis, this size seems to be adequate. I'm only concerned with finding out that we wished we went larger.

Has anyone out there regretted their "too small" trailer?

[Alan Anderson]

The TechnoKats trailer is quite a bit larger than we need to transport a robot and pit material to a competition. But we sometimes fill it with much more than that. We brought a complete wooden field to the first CAGE off-season competition, and to IRI to be the practice field. We haul a bulky collection of electrical wiring and distribution panels, plus a huge cart to carry the overhead wiring bridges, to those competitions. It's more than we need for some things, but it's very nice to have the space when necessary.

[roystur44]

We rent a 6'x10'x 70" enclosed trailer for $28 Day. Rear ramp and side door, inside lights, lockable, inside tie downs, single axle. That's plenty of space to carry 2-3 robots and over 8-12 crates of gear and 15 batteries. We do 2-3 short travel, over night events per year which require the trailer. I've been talking to the guy who rents it to us and he may just sponsor us and let us use it. The rental place takes care of the maintenance and storage. The rental yard is close by. We pull the trailer with a V8 SUV and pack it with 4 students and a driver.

It's hard to beat that price and the convenience of renting. The rental place even has GPS locating devices if theft is a issue.

[Gary Dillard]

This is mildly tangent to the topic, but I amused myself with it so i thought I'd share it.

A few years back while living in Florida I decided I wanted to put up a small storage shed next to my house using one of the pre-fab kits from Home Depot. I checked with the local zoning board, who informed me that I would need a $250 permit, and full plans and site maps, and it would need to meet Miami Dade Building Code, 6 weeks to review it, etc. I then called the Florida Highway Patrol to find out what the design requirements were for a trailer. They said they didn't care, they just needed to know how much it weighed so they knew how much to charge me for a license plate.

So I proceeded to design and build a "trailer". I used a small storage shed from Home Depot for the basic frame, built it next to my house, and then proceeded to indefinitely design / build the chassis. If I ever finish it and I decide to take it on the road, I guess I'll have to figure out how much it weighs so I can get a license plate for it.

[treffk]

We generally use a U-Haul 5x8 or 5x10 trailer to bring our things to events currently. We used to use a sponsors trailer that was rather spacious so we stowed jackets and such in it during the day.

We suposedly have a trailer the school will let us have because it was wrecked. A tractor ran into if I remember correctly, but we have never seen it. I do not know if this is because we decided it wasn't worth the effort or they just are not forthcoming to allowing us to have it.

The one year we went to Championship(Atlanta) we used a sponsors trailer that I think was 14 to 16 feet long and a parent pulled it down while we flew. This worked out rather well for a reason most people wouldn't think of. We had everyone put their luggage in it, this avoided extra time at the airport and the extra cost. We took almost 40 people so this was a lifesaver for us.

One thing that I haven't seen mentioned in this thread is trailer locks to prevent people from stealing the trailer. With having a trailer that constantly sits where anyone has access it always has the chance of getting stolen, even at events! 1108 is one team in particular that had their trailer stolen from GKCR in 2009 or 2010 right off one of the teams vehicles. Trailers can be great but just be causious when leaving them around.

[Tom Line]

Originally Posted by Gary Dillard

This is mildly tangent to the topic, but I amused myself with it so i thought I'd share it.

Gary, that's hillarious. Doubly so because my brother in law did the exact same thing. In his case it was a 40 by 30 enclosure for painting boats. The township was not amused and came out to make him prove it could move. He jacked up all 4 corners of the structure, bolted wheels to it, then moved it a couple feet back and forth while they watched. He showed them that it moved, and they've been quiet (but quite upset) about it ever since then.

[rsisk]

Whatever trailer you purchase, make doubly sure you keep it secured. I give tips earlier in the thread based on first hand experience of losing a trailer with everything our team owned in it. Double door locks with hidden hasps, strong steel cable with heavy duty locks throu the wheels, locking lug nuts, hitch lock, paint the license number on the roof, and add an active tracking system. Finally, don't ever assume it is safe any time it is out of your sight